Housekeeping

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

Just wanted to set a few comments/errors straight.
On Apr 13, 2006, at 9:02 PM, nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org wrote:


> <snip>  Fat chance anybody ever saw that Powatan Arrow ever carrying 

> green signals for a following section.


For starters, it the correct spelling is "Powhatan" not "Powatan."

I don't have the exact date handy as I only made notes rather than a 
copy, but at least on one occasion during a snow storm, somewhere about 
1952-53, when the newspapers reported on such details. The Roanoke 
paper reported that "The Powhatan Arrow left Roanoke eastbound 
yesterday in two sections." and that is indeed, a direct quote from the 
paper.


> After all, how many people needed to ride a train  between a deadend 

> point like Norfolk and Cincinnati?    Except  for possibly the mail 

> and express contract,


To my knowledge, the Arrow did not carry any baggage or express until 
late in the 1950s. There was the occasional car moved of storage mail 
in the late 1950s. However, to the best of my knowledge, even then 
there was not a specific contract for movement of mail on the Arrow.

If Cincinnati was such a  "deadend point", why did such railroads as 
C&O, B&O, NYC, L&N, Southern, Pennsylvania, N&W and probably some I 
have forgotten, offer service to there. At one time several roads 
offered service to and from Norfolk as well.


> <snip> And at intermediate stops, the conductor probably knew the 

> passengers that got on and off the train by their first names.


Not very likely, the Arrow was a through train, not a local. The only 
intermediate stops between Norfolk and Cincinnati were Petersburg, 
Crewe, Lynchburg, Roanoke, Christiansburg, Bluefield, Welch, 
Williamson, Kenova and Portsmouth.


> The ACL made a profit on passenger traffic and did not write it off as 

> a liability. To compare passenger traffic between the N&W and the ACL 

> is downright laughable.


I don't think anyone but you was making such comparisons.


>  Amtrak never was weak enough to offer passenger service in or out of 

> Roanoke from any direction.


Amtrak's Mountaineer ran Norfolk-Cincinnati-Chicago beginning in March 
25, 1974, replaced by the Hilltopper May 31, 1977, with no interruption 
in service, between Boston, Richmond, Roanoke and Cattletsburg, Ky. 
Train was discontinued with budget cuts September 30, 1979.


> <snip>   There must have been a valid reason to call it "The Standard 

> Railroad Of The South."   Bill Sellers


Names and slogans were easily chosen by railroads, with no real 
questions from people on those claims of validity. I seriously doubt 
that anyone but the ACL or an advertising agency came up with that 
term. It is not like a government decree, it is a sales slogan. Just 
because it is said, does not make it so. You can look at any of the 
following and find ready exceptions or arguments to the validity of 
such: The Southern serves the South, Route of Courteous Service, The 
Old Reliable, even N&W's Precision Transportation, etc. All of these 
were all chosen by the railroads themselves.

Ken Miller

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